Colossians 3:1-17 A Primer in Christian Living
All Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but there are some Scriptures that we can consider the Himalayan mountaintops of the Bible. In the next few months, we will be looking at a series of great texts that inspire and move us - the "Himalayan Heights" of God's Word.
Today's Reading: Colossians 3:1-17
Colossians 3:1-17 is a step by step guide to Christian living. It is a series of 12 commands, each of which builds on the previous one, laying out how we should live as followers of Jesus Christ. Each day, read the entire 17 verses, then meditate on the verse or verses that are the focus passage. Today, verse 2.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.Background: Today, we continue with the second command in Phase 1, "Heaven in my heart and head."
Through the Bible Readings: 1 Samuel 29-31, Luke 21:25–38, Psalm 56:9–13, Proverbs 12:11-12
If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings.
Devotional: Heaven in My Head
There has been a lot of focus in recent years on heaven. Books have become bestsellers and movies have become hits, based on stories of people who have claimed to have visited heaven and come back to tell us what it is like. It is a genre now known as "heavenly tourism." Some of those books have turned out to be hoaxes, while others are still debated in theological circles.
What is not open for debate is that when Paul said, "Set your mind on things above," He wasn't talking about visions of heaven, what it might look like to walk the streets of gold, or what kind of music will be sung around the throne. He was speaking of something much more fundamental.
The success of the Christian life begins in the will, when we set our hearts on things above, determining that our lives will count for eternity. But once that determination has been made, we must then set our minds on things above - the battleground becomes the human mind. Our minds tend to be focused on earthly things, sometimes sinful things, often just the mundane routine things of this world.
Romans 12:1-2 is the turning point of the book. After spending 11 chapters explaining the righteousness that is ours by faith, Paul says that because of this great mercy of God, we should give our bodies to Christ as a living sacrifice. He then says, in verse 2, "Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Having been saved and given ourselves over to Christ, how does the process of transformation proceed? By the renewing of our minds. When our minds are transformed and made new our lives begin to change. The fleshly thinking that has dominated your life needs to be transformed into godly thinking. We need to develop, as Philippians 2:5 describes, "the mind of Christ."
How do we renew our minds? It is a lifelong process worked in us by the Holy Spirit, but the key is for us to immerse ourselves in God's word. Be in the word of God. Read it. Study it. Memorize it. Meditate on it. The Spirit of God uses the word of God to do the work of God in the people of God! There is no substitute!
Father, renew my mind. Change the worldly thinking, the fleshly thinking that dominates me and create in me the mind of Christ.
Think and Pray:
Are you consistently cultivating the mind of Christ by seeking the word of God?
No comments:
Post a Comment